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The Aircraft Industry

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The Aircraft Industry CHAPTER 1 8 THE AIRCRAFT INDUSTR Y OON after the war of 1914-18 a number of small firms, encouraged by S the Commonwealth Government, began the construction of wooden , fabric-covered aircraft fitted with imported engines, for use as trainin g machines by the R.A.A.F. Once the demand for training aircraft ha d been satisfied, the firms had little further scope for activity since there was very little demand for civil aircraft of the type they were making . The inevitable result was that they went out of business . While on a trip abroad in 1935 Mr Essington Lewis saw in the warlike preparations of Germany and Japan a strong argument for establishing a well-founded aircraft industry in Australia . He believed that because of the peculiar distribution of Australia 's population, with large cities along the eastern and southern coasts and hundreds of thousands of squar e miles to the north and west practically devoid of settlement, aircraft woul d prove a powerful, and perhaps the main weapon of defence . During his stay in London Lewis was able to gain the support of Sir Harry (later Lord) McGowan of Imperial Chemical Industries, and that of Mr W . S. Robinson' of the Zinc Corporation Ltd, but on his return to Australia he found that his ideas were by no means widely accepted . Indeed, had it not been for the strong advocacy of Sir Archdale Parkhill, 2 at that time Minister for Defence in the Lyons Government, and of Mr W . M. Hughes , Lewis's proposals for an aircraft industry might well have been shelved . In 1936, however, at the suggestion of the Government, three companie s with long experience in overcoming problems likely to be met in settin g up such an industry banded together and formed a syndicate . They were the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd, Australia 's leading industrial organisation ; Broken Hill Smelters Pty Ltd, a company that handled almos t the entire mining and smelting of non-ferrous metals in Australia ; and General Motors-Holden's Ltd, the most powerful member of the auto- motive industry . The purpose of the syndicate was to discover to what extent it would be practicable to develop a self-sufficient aircraft industr y based on Australian raw materials and industrial facilities . The syndicate formed the opinion that about five years would be required to produce first-line military aircraft, and that before this could b e achieved much spade work would have to be done . In the belief that it is better to learn to walk before learning to run, it was decided in th e first instance not to attempt to make the most modern, high-performanc e type of aircraft but to begin with a trainer . In view of criticisms that were later made about the inadequacy of the first Australian-made aircraft a s fighter planes, it is important to remember this technical policy. 1 W. S. Robinson . Financial Editor, Melbourne Age, 1899-1907 ; Joint Managing Director, Broken Hill Assoc Smelters, 1915-35 ; Adviser, in London, to Aust Govt in first and second worl d wars . Of Melbourne and London ; b . Hawthorn, Vic, 3 Oct 1876. a Hon Sir Archdale Parkhill, KCMG. MHR 1927-37 . PMG 1932-34 ; Min for Defence 1934-37. B . Paddington, NSW, 27 Aug 1879. Died 3 Oct 1947 . 382 THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTR Y In order to decide the best type of aircraft with which to begin manu- facture, the syndicate appointed a mission of three engineering officers o f the air force—Messrs Wackett, 3 Harrison4 and Murphy 5—and sent them abroad with instructions to visit every country of interest as far as aircraf t manufacturing was concerned. They were to study the types of aircraft in production and to be prepared on their return to Australia to recom- mend an aircraft and an engine suited both to the requirements of th e R.A.A.F. and to the stage of industrial development that had been reache d in Australia. In the course of their travels the mission visited Italy, France , Germany, Czechoslovakia, Holland, England and the United States . Among the foremost considerations in the minds of the mission when preparing its report was the desirability of establishing a method of manu- facture that would be applicable not to one type of aircraft only, but to a range of types. The design should, moreover, lend itself to making th e greatest use of jigs and tools so that in emergency, mass production b y semi-skilled labour would be possible. It also took the view that the desig n should include features likely to become standard practice for some years . Features then regarded as novel but sufficiently important in securing a high performance to be included in the requirements of an aircraft for Australian manufacture were : stressed skin construction; all-metal con- struction ; low-wing monoplane ; hydraulically operated, retractable under- carriage landing gear; variable pitch propeller. An air-cooled radial engin e was selected as the most suitable type to establish aero-engine productio n in Australia. The members of the mission were told that, other thing s being equal, British types of aircraft and aero-engine should be favoured , but that the all-important point was to select types which could be put into production in Australia most easily and rapidly . Having regard to all these requirements, and to the suitability of th e aircraft for the advanced training requirements of the R .A.A.F., the mis- sion unanimously recommended that a licence to manufacture an aircraf t known as NA-33 should be secured from North American Aviation In- corporated (California) and that authority to manufacture single-ro w Wasp engines for installation in the aircraft should be obtained from th e Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Division of the United Aircraft Corporation . Choice of this engine was strongly influenced by the fact that many com- ponents of the single-row Wasp were common to those used in the twin - row Wasp Pratt and Whitney engine of 1,200 horse power, and that th e same techniques and methods of construction were used for both engines . Ability to produce the larger engine would be a great asset if it wa s decided to build operational aircraft . 4 W Cdr Sir Lawrence Wackett, DFC, AFC ; BSc . (Served 1st AIF .) RAAF 1919-30 ; Manager C'wealth Aircraft Corpn. Aircraft engineer (designed the experimental flying boat "Widgeon " ) . Of Melbourne; b. Townsville, Q1d, 2 Jan 1896 . 4 W Cdr H. C. Harrison, OBE . Chief draughtsman in aircraft firm, England, 1916-20 . Dir of Tech Services RAAF 1925-27, 1930-35 ; comd various RDF Stns RAAF 1943-44 ; Dep Dir Repai r and Maintenance RAAF 1944-45 . Of Middle Brighton, Vic ; b. Norwich, Eng, 22 May 1888 . 5 Air Cmdre A. W. Murphy, DFC, AFC . (Served 1st AIF : 1 Sqn Aust Flying Corps.) Com d 4 Maintenance Gp RAAF, 1942-45 . Of Essendon, Vic; b. Kew, Vic, 17 Nov 1891 . THE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY 383 The NA-33, a two-seater, single-engine, low-wing, all-metal monoplane had been designed by North American Aviation for simplified, large scale production . Its construction inAustralia would provide factory experience i n manufacturing techniques likely to form a background for the development of other types of aircraft, ranging from high-speed fighters to bombers . By no means least of the advantages of the NA-33 were the very reasonabl e terms asked for the licence to manufacture it in Australia . The Air Board accepted all the mission ' s recommendations . Later the British Air Ministry also adopted the NA-33, under the name of the Harvard trainer. The original members of the syndicate had now been joined by repre- sentatives of I .C.I.A.N.Z. Ltd, the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Austral- asia Ltd, and the Orient Steam Navigation Company Ltd. Almost immedi- ately after this accession to its membership, the syndicate was registere d in Victoria as the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty Ltd (C .A.C.) in October 1936 . 6 This organisation not only pioneered the manufacture of all-metal aircraft in Australia, it also became the leading wartime private manufacturer . While plans were being prepared for the erection of aircraft and engine factories and an engine test-house at Fishermen's Bend (Victoria) , Wackett was sent to Britain and the United States to buy machine-tool s and equipment and to arrange the necessary licences. Before the buildings were completed in September 1937, the Commonwealth Government had placed an order for forty NA-33's . It is an interesting sidelight on the ramifications of the Aluminum Cor- poration of America that the C .A.C. found it necessary in 1938 to procure from it a licence for making special aluminium alloy castings needed fo r aircraft parts . A foundry built for this purpose began operations in January 1939 with small and relatively simple castings, but as experience was acquired more and more intricate tasks, such as the cylinder hea d for the Wasp engine, were undertaken . Casting of magnesium and it s alloys, also new to Australia, was begun. By reason of experience gained in foundry work involving light alloys, the C .A.C. became the source of supply of aluminium-magnesium alloy castings not only for its own aircraft and engine projects but for all other members of the wartime aircraf t industry. Later, these facilities proved insufficient and an additional foundr y was built by the Commonwealth Government at Highett, Victoria, for us e by the corporation as a magnesium foundry.
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